Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re all frustrated novelists

It’s often said of copywriters that we’re all frustrated novelists. So, in the interests of research, I’ve been putting this to the test.

By the end of this weekend, I hope to have completed 12,000 words and my third chapter, at which point a friendly literary agent has agreed to have a gander at my efforts.

As I can now speak from experience, I would say it’s highly unlikely that there are many frustrated novelists in the copywriting fraternity. Copywriting’s about brevity; novels demand a colossal 90,000 words and, frankly, are all about spinning stuff out as much as you can get away with.

I now see novels through new eyes. If the writer’s inserted a letter or a newspaper report into the text, I smile knowingly and think: ‘Aha, they did that only to eat up another 400 words’.